STATUE Nowadays you see living statues all over the world.

They wear elaborate costumes and body paint, and

stand without moving for hours. But what's it like? Is it

difficult? I spoke to Nina, a living statue in London.

'You need to be physically and mentally fit. It's

actually quite hard standing still, and you have to eat

before you start or you feel ill.

'We wear body paint so we look like real metal or

stone statues. Metallic paint takes over an hour to put

on and it's difficult to get off, too. Every week I have

a sauna to clean my skin. I love designing different

costumes and being creative. We even paint our

clothes to make them look heavy. In the winter you

need to wear thermal underwear under your costume

so you don't shiver with cold.

I've worked at glamorous birthday parties for famous

people, and in parks in the rain, and I've just been to

the World Championships in Holland. There were 300

statues and 300,000 visitors. It was incredible! Most

people love us but sometimes young children are

frightened and I've seen one or two cry!'

Antonio Santos from Barcelona holds the world record

for standing still, an incredible 20 hours, 11 minutes

and 38 seconds, but the longest Nina has stood

without moving is two and a half hours, at a party,

'It was awful! So now, I move. If someone gives me

money, I blow a kiss or do a dance to say thank you:

And of course if you need to sneeze or something,

you have to come alive' and make it part of the

performance. It's hard work but fun!'​

milanamva00    2   03.02.2021 11:13    4